This article examines the thoughts of Ali Abd al-Raziq, an important Egyptian scholar and author of a book called Islam and the Bases of Rule (al-Islam wa Usul al-Hukm), published in 1925. In this work, Abd al-Raziq presented fundamental arguments in support of the separation of religion and politics, which were fully supported by a very original analysis of Islam's holy text, the Quran, as well as by the historical situation of the Muslim community at the time of the Prophet Muhammad. Although the publication of this book caused a great scandal in Egypt, with its author being forced to withdraw from Egyptian public life for quite a long period of time, the arguments contained in the book represent an important contribution to the debates about the desirable degree of linkage between Islam and politics in the Muslim world., Jan Kondrys., and Obsahuje bibliografii